PASADENA, CALIF. - Dusty Mangum can kick. His 37-yard field goal as time expired Saturday night at the Rose Bowl gave Texas a one-point victory over Michigan.

Dusty Mangum is patient. Even though the Wolverines called two timeouts in an effort to ice him, he never wavered.

"I'm always, 'When do you want me to kick it?' " he said. " 'Tell me, and I'll come over and kick the ball.' "

Dusty Mangum is a team player.

Rather than being remembered as the man who kicked Texas to its first Rose Bowl win, he said: "I would want people to remember this great team. We won this as a team. I didn't win the game. The Texas Longhorns won."

Dusty Mangum is blessed with perspective.

During the second Michigan timeout, he said, "I was reflecting on how I've been here for four years and how great my teammates are, and I'm going to go out and kick it for them."

And Dusty Mangum is cool. During Michigan's first timeout, he kept loose by singing a song called Just One by Hoobastank.

Even before his kick toward the south end zone came out low — so low Michigan fans let out a yell of hope it would fall short — Texas coach Mack Brown said he never doubted Mangum would come through.

"I told him (before the kick) he was the luckiest human being in the world, that on his last kick at the University of Texas, he was going to be the hero," Brown said. "I told him they were going to call two timeouts, and then I called our group over in front of him and said, 'If y'all protect the kicker, the kick's good. So y'all need to help.' "

To get in position for the kick, Mangum needed one last push from the marvelous Vince Young.

Young accounted for 47 yards on the Longhorns' final drive before Texas moved the ball to the 19 on two carries by Cedric Benson.

But Young was comfortable putting the game in Mangum's hands.

"We do a lot of things in practice, working on him making those big kicks," Young said. "I didn't mind not scoring that last touchdown. When we put it in his hands, we believed in him."

It was not unfamiliar territory for Mangum, who has been a kicker since he was in the eighth grade.

Been there before

"I wanted to play receiver in high school, but my parents wouldn't let me because they didn't want my leg to get hurt," he said. "Pretty good choice by them."

He was good on 10 of 14 attempts this season, including a pair of 50-yarders, and 49 of 72 for his career. That includes a 27-yarder with 1:32 to play against Kansas State in 2002 as the crowd in Manhattan chanted "We hate you, we hate you."

Saturday night, they loved him. His teammates hoisted him to their shoulders after the game, and he was surrounded by well-wishers and questioners for a half-hour afterward.

"I came in as a freshman, and one of my goals was to beat Oklahoma with a field goal on ABC national television," he said. "Winning the Rose Bowl is 10 times better."

And, eventually, his memory improved about the lyrics to Just One.

" 'Just one chance is all I want.' That's part of it," he said, "The whole point of the song is to give me one chance."

More specifically: "Just one chance is all I ever wanted/Just one time I'd like to win the game/From now on I'll take the chance if I can have it/Just one, just one."